Womens' groups and general leftist groups attacked; Gray Davis suggested legal action might be appropriate. The Wall Street Journal's editorial page, with its generally conservative outlook, downplayed the allegations and put an emphasis on Schwarzenegger's apology.
A few years ago, Bill Clinton dodged allegations of sexual harassment and abuse of power in the cases. To my mind, they were reasonably substantiated and established a disturbing pattern of behavior.
Womens' groups downplayed the accusations (I remember NOW, oddly enough, actually attacked his female accusers). The Wall Street Journal's editorial page frothed at the mouth about harassment and went into lurid detail.
As I see it, both sides reacted strictly according to ideology in each case. The underlying allegations didn't seem to matter. By the way, I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican.
Sigh. I'd be happy to debate responses as to why the cases are different. If you're just going to attack it from a political standpoint ("Schwarzenegger is a Republican and everyone knows they are hostile to women!" / "Bill Clinton is a Democrat and everyone knows they have no morals!") I won't dignify the comments with a response.